Ricky and the Water Main...

So today Mark and I went to the pet store with the intention of buying a fish for the ginormous fish bowl we currently have. But if you know me at all, you know that I am a HUGE softie with the animals and pet stores multiply that to an extreme that is unknown to the normal human mind. So to make a long story short, we left with two fish and a hamster. Yes, you heard correctly...a hamster!!! I have always always always wanted a hamster and today...I got my wish :) And here is my new beloved child, Ricky. She is absolutely adorable --nevermind the fact that I look like trash...



The pet stores here are in direct correlation with the zoos: terrible. There were puppies crammed into tiny cages and tons and tons of hamsters to each small cage. There were adorable little kittens in stacked cages left to play with the plastic packaging that was dangling into their cages from a neighboring scratching post. The turtles were so tightly packed in their aquarium that there were actually stacks of turtles piled on the few rocks that scattered the space. To save you any more agony, I will simply say that it was a tiny space crammed with far too many animals. And my big softie heart got the best of me, and I walked away, having saved one of the tiny hamsters...and I couldn't be happier!!!

Here is Ricky in her new home. To give you a bit more of an idea of the animal treatment in the store, the woman who sold us Ricky looked at the cage we picked and said, "That's such a large cage for such a small hamster." How terrible!!! I would give her more space if we had the money to buy a larger cage. Bah...



On a completely different note, I looked down the hall and out the balcony door --yes...we have a balcony here :) -- to see this sight:



Apparently a water main had broken on the next street up. Now I haven't been around too many water main breaks, but I would imagine that that would be a large problem of great concern. When we were in San Pedro, there was actually a water main break in the outskirts of town that we happened to stumble across and there were about five men scampering around trying to solve the problem as quickly as possible. I admit that water in San Pedro is a bit more of a precious resource, but I would still have expected to see workers clamoring about attempting to remedy the situation. But instead, all I saw was a giant fountain of water gushing up out of the ground only to fall on an unattended street, blocked off by nothing more than a few ordinary caution cones.

To switch to yet another random note, I was searching a few artists yesterday and thumbing through their websites when I stumbled upon a quote which I find to be rather pertinent:

"The discipline of emptying your mind is as important as the discipline of filling it." --De la Vega

I've been finding since my arrival here that I the overload of information I have received might not be doing me all that much good. I've been bombarded with information and sights and sounds day after day, knowing that I'll only be here for a short time, and trying to make up for the time I know I won't have. But while throwing myself into this jungle of stimuli has been overloading my mind and body. I'm learning to balance the intake with sufficient down time in which to unwind and reflect. If I don't have time to do this, I won't be able to absorb anything that I'm experiencing. And if I'm unable to absorb anything, than I won't be learning, and if I'm not learning, then what's the point in being here??? exactly...

So on that note, I've been researching artists that I've heard about through the grapevines that are strung up around here and I've found that I'm learning far more than I would have expected. I had a moment of extreme inspiration yesterday which led to many drawings and a rejuvenated interest in finally establishing my website. And with that...I think I shall leave you...as Ricky runs away in her wheel, so too shall I spin through my thoughts of the past few days...